3f compared to 2f?

[Percussion Pete]

Ok, I have a new question that I couldn't quite figure out without buying powder.

I use 1860's and have been trying different loads. I like big booms and lots of smoke. I moved up to 30 gr of 3f and it feels good, but it's hard to keeep the caps on. 25 gr is much better, but it leaves the ball too deep in the chamber. I like to eliminate a wad to keep it simple. I just use Crisco to fill the chamber after the ball.

So, the question is if I use 30 gr of 2f (Goex). Will it have the same chamber pressure as 25 gr of 3f? Can I use more 2f?

I'd like to use as much 2f as possible and still keep the pressure in a range that will keep the caps from blowing off.

btw I use Treso nipples.

Thanks

[Ranch 13]

 2f will yield less pressure than 3f when used grain for grain. Whether or not it'll keep you caps from falling off is a whole nuther guestion.
 You could also go to 1f if you're not worried about velocity.

[Percussion Pete]

I know 2f has less pressure. That's why i'm switching to it. I'm ok with 25 gr of 3f as far as caps go. So, my question is how much 2f powder can I use to be equal to 25gr of 3f?

I use spouts to measure my powder. I'm trying figure this out without buying spouts that I don't need. 

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[Ranch 13]

It's hard to give you exact numbers.
 Best thing you can do is pour your cylinder full of 2f until you have room to seat the ball, and then dump that powder out into a scale and see how many grains you got.

[hellgate]

What's so wrong about blowing the caps off the nipples? I love how my Uberti Remingtons kick off the caps under recoil. The caps are supposed to fall off the Colts at that diagonal cutout on the recoil shield each time you cock the gun. If the caps stay on the nipples there is a greater chance they will drag on the recoil shield as they come back around. I prefer they drop the hell away from the gun so I need not have to deal with them.

[Percussion Pete]

What's so wrong about blowing the caps off the nipples? I love how my Uberti Remingtons kick off the caps under recoil. The caps are supposed to fall off the Colts at that diagonal cutout on the recoil shield each time you cock the gun. If the caps stay on the nipples there is a greater chance they will drag on the recoil shield as they come back around. I prefer they drop the hell away from the gun so I need not have to deal with them.

Sometimes they fall down if front of the hammer. Then the next shot doesn't fire. I'm sure you already know this.

Even though I use the stock main spring i think heavy loads still blow the hammer back.

[hellgate]

Pete,
I would recommend you fill in the safety notch on the hammer with welding, brazing, or JB Weld. What I have found is the caps get forced into that little notch in the hammer face and get grabbed off the nipple and then tipped off into the action or under the hammer. Since I have filled all my Colt's hammers I don't get cap jams or hangups with 30 grain powder loads. The Tresos have smaller flash holes and less pressure is exerted onto the hammer face and therefore less cap grabbing but if you  filling that notch I'll bet your cap drop problem stops. I used JB Weld but it occasionally gets knocked out but when intact I have had ZERO cap jams.

[litl rooster]

Hellgate that's great advise on the hammer mod.

[Percussion Pete]

hellgate,

 I was going to do that. I think I read one of your articles that suggested it.

I'm going to go ahead and use 30gr of 2f from now on and make it work. That way i'll only need to buy one size of BP for all the guns. I love to simplify my life.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I did a comparison chrony test (No pressures) one time with .44-40 and .38-40.

Each calibre took close to 34grains of FFg as a full load.  To obtain equivalent MVs (about 700 fps)with FFFg I loaded 21 grains and topped it with enough Cream of Wheat to get about the same compression.   

Full loads of FFFg reached close to 900 fps in my 5 1/2 inch Old Vaqueros.  I don't have the data handy, but I wrote it up in a short article in the NCOWS SHOOTIST a few years back.

[hellgate]

Rooster & Pete,
I had thought of it years ago and tried to solder in the notch in my '61 Navy but couldn't get it to stick so I gave up. Then last year I thought, "Hey, I use JB Weld for so many other things maybe that would work". So I tried it, tested it, wrote up an article on it and sent it to the SASS Cowboy Chronicle. But before claiming credit I did a search and it turns out that a fellow named Noz (Nozzle Rag) had suggested it to Fingers McGee who suggested it on the SASS Wire last year or so. So Noz was first to suggest it to anyone and Fingers passed it on but I still wrote it up (crediting them too) so others might get more reliability out of their perCUSSIN' revolvers. I suggested (emailed) to Alchemista that he provide hammers without the notch on the Piettas he makes but he stated that his insurance carrier would not allow it. I suggested he at least NARROW the width and put notchless hammers on their Colts without the safety pins on the cylinders to begin with. I did not hear back on that one.

[Percussion Pete]

I can understand their problem with safety, but we only load 5 chambers and that's a better safety.

I'll fill the notch.

Thanks.

[Fiddler Green]

This may sound strange and I’m sure I’ll get lots of disagreement, but.........

 I found, that when I shot 2F in my pistols, they got a lot hotter then with the same amount of 3F. I think it has to do with the bigger grains leaving more room for air and that causes a hotter burn. But, I really can't say for sure. I just know it happens!

[kflach]

For those of us who are newer to this, what exactly is "the safety notch on the hammer?" Is that specific to a Colt (I own a Pietta 1858 Remingon model). There's a roundish indentation on the face of my hammer that looks like it aligns with the nipples but I don't know what purpose (if any) it serves.

[Fiddler Green]

Colts have a notch in the hammer that lock in on the "nipple" between the cylinders while the Remingtons (with the narrower hammer) can be lowered into the slot between the cylinders. Both options allow the user to carry the gun with 6 full cylinders and not have the hammer on a cap.

Bruce

[kflach]

Thanks. I didn't know that. I'm familiar with the notch in the hammer that's used to aim, but I've never looked at the face of a Colt hammer so I didn't know there was another notch.

[Cuts Crooked]

Fiddler, the gun gets hotter because the slower burn gives more time for heat transfer to the metal.

For what it's worth, a lot of pards think that BP burns hotter than smokeless..........it does not! It simply burns slower and heat is transfered to the barrel/cyllinder better during that slow burn. (Something I picked up from the Mad Monk a long time ago)

[Dick Dastardly]

Yup Cuts,

But on long string shotgun stages I wear a glove on my left hand when I'm shootn' my SxS.  It gets rite hot in the tubes.  Like to blister my mits without gloves.

Long live the Holy Black!!

DD-DLoS

[hellgate]

Hey DD,
The way I keep from frying my off hand on the barrels is to lace a THIN leather sleeve around the barrels at the level of the forestock. As long as you are not wrapping the wood (just the barrels) it is a legal modification. I have the laces under the forestock between the barrels where they don't show. The leather is super thin but effectively insulates my hand from the heat. The forestock holds the sleeve in place.

[Doc Cuervo]

Hey DD,
The way I keep from frying my off hand on the barrels is to lace a THIN leather sleeve around the barrels at the level of the forestock. As long as you are not wrapping the wood (just the barrels) it is a legal modification. I have the laces under the forestock between the barrels where they don't show. The leather is super thin but effectively insulates my hand from the heat. The forestock holds the sleeve in place.

Hmmm, the gloves solution sounds much simpler and it works, that is what I use.